


Christmas With the McGarretts

by ranereins (shadowintime)



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Gen, Sad, Silly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-26
Updated: 2012-12-26
Packaged: 2017-11-22 11:41:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/609441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowintime/pseuds/ranereins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny isn't going to get to see Grace this Christmas. Not wanting him to be alone, Steve invites Danny to stay the night with them on Christmas Eve as well as Christmas day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Christmas With the McGarretts

**Author's Note:**

> This idea has been rolling around in my head since the last new ep of H50. It's a bit if silliness that ended up with a few bits of sadness in it. Also, I'm going on a couple of hours of sleep, not to mention that I haven't gotten any decent amount of sleep in about a week... so, yeah, silliness. :P Unbeta'd

Duffle bag in one hand, bag of presents in the other and a sad frown on his face, Danny sighed and knocked on Steve’s door. He heard muffled voices inside before the door opened and Steve smiled at him.

“Hey Danny, come on in,” Steve said cheerfully.

Danny trudged through the door and sat his bags down at the end of the couch that would be his bed for the night.

“Hey Danny!” Mary exclaimed, bounding in from the kitchen and wrapping her arms around his neck. “Sorry you can’t spend Christmas with Grace, but I’m glad you can spend it with us!”

Danny smiled a little. “That doesn’t make me feel any better, but thank you Mary.”

“Daniel, you’re just in time,” Doris said as she emerged from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dish towel.

Danny wasn’t entirely sure why, but it made him nervous when she did that. “Just in time for what?” he asked cautiously.

“We unwrap one present on Christmas Eve; it’s a family tradition.”

Mary rested an arm on his shoulder. “Spoiler alert, it’s pajamas.”

Doris gave her daughter a pointed look. “Mary…”

“What? It’s not like it’s any big surprise,” Mary said, at least having the decency to look sheepish.

“It is to Danny… or would have been.”

Danny looked at the large, beautifully decorated tree in the corner of the living room and saw three neatly wrapped boxes with shiny ribbon and bows adorning them.

“Sorry.”

“Danny, have a seat,” Doris said, ushering him towards the couch. “Steve, will you get the presents honey?”

“Sure Mom,” Steve said with a smile. He gathered up the three boxes and gave Mary and Danny theirs before sitting down between them on the couch with his own.

Doris sat in the armchair by Mary and straightened her dress.

Steve slid a finger under the edge of the wrapping paper as he watched his mother, waiting for her to give the go-ahead. Danny noticed that Mary did the same.

Doris pretended to pick a piece of lint from the arm of the chair and repositioned herself in the chair. “Alright, go ahead.”

Danny barely had a grip on the bow before wrapping paper was flying through the air and both Mary and Steve were pulling their pajamas out of the boxes.

“Aww kitties!” Mary squealed as she held up her a pair of footie pajamas covered in kittens playing in wrapping paper and bows. “And matching slippers!” She pulled a pair of clunky slippers shaped like kittens.

“Uh, Mom?” Steve asked.

“Yes honey?” Doris asked sweetly.

“I know that the last Christmas we spent together, I was still wearing these, but I think I’m a little old for footie pajamas,” Steve said with a goofy smile as he held up the footie pajamas covered in little seals wearing Santa hats. “How did you even find these in my size?!”

Danny tried to stifle a laugh and hide his grin. “I think they’re _very cool_.”

“Just open your box Danny,” Steve said. “Mary, leave his gift alone.”

“But he’s not opening it…” Mary whined as she pulled at the ribbon on Danny’s gift.

“You can open it for me,” Danny told her. Without a seconds hesitation, she tore into the box, sending a blur of blue swirling around him as the paper flew through the air and the box lid hit the coffee table with a hollow ‘thunk’.

“I special ordered those pajamas Steven. Indulge your mother,” Doris said, looking a bit hurt by Steve’s reaction.

Steve considered it for a moment before giving in and pulling the overstuffed seal slippers out of the box. “Alright… just this once. Thank you Mom.”

Doris smiled, pleased. “You’re welcome honey.” She turned to Danny. “Now Danny, I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I hope those are okay.”

Danny held the pajamas up and surveyed the penguins with reindeer antlers adorning the ice blue pajamas. He finished pulling them from the box. Just as he suspected… footie pajamas. He looked at Doris, who was smiling at him sweetly.

Steve grinned. “Yeah Danny, are they okay?”

Danny forced a polite smile. “They’re very nice Mrs. McGarrett, thank you.” Despite how nice Momma McGarrett seemed, she still scared him.

“There’s matching slippers for you too,” she pointed out. “I know they’re a bit redundant with footie pajamas, but they’re just so adorable and you can wear them with other pajamas.”

“Oh yeah, these are great,” Danny said, slipping the penguin slippers on his hands and surveying them. They were very soft and warm… he could see himself wearing them. Grace would really love them; she’d probably end up confiscating them. He smiled for a moment before remembering where Grace currently was… or more specifically, wasn’t.

Doris stood. “Alright, you three go upstairs and change into your pajamas. I’ll go get the cookies out of the oven and make the hot chocolate.”

“Race ya!” Mary exclaimed before hopping the coffee table and bounding towards the stairs. Steve was close behind; he snaked an arm around her waist just as she reached the stairs, picked her up and sat her back down behind him.

Danny couldn’t help but smile at the two siblings. They reminded him a lot of himself and his brother. His heart sunk at the thought of his brother. God, he had to stop doing that, he had to stop thinking of all the things that made him sad. He grabbed his new pajamas and slippers and trudged up the stairs to Steve’s room.

“You’d better hurry up Danny,” Steve said, pulling his pants off. “The cookies go fast and Mom _will_ start the movie without you.”

“Okay.”

Steve grabbed his pajamas and unzipped them. “Hey, I know you miss Grace, but it’s not the end of the world. You’ll talk to her tonight and tomorrow and see her in a few days and you’ll have your own little Christmas with her.”

Danny began unbuttoning his shirt. “Yeah, I know… it’s just not the same though.”

Steve sat on the end of his bed and began pulling on his pajamas. “I know man. But look on the bright side…”

“I can be 5 again?” Danny interrupted, a smile forming.

“I was gonna say that you’re with people who love you, but yeah, I guess there’s that too.” Steve stood, slid his arms into the sleeves, zipped up his pajamas and looked in the mirror, inspecting his appearance. “Just as good as I looked when I was a kid. I can still totally rock this look.”

“You look ridiculous,” Danny said, chuckling. “You look like a toddler on steroids.”

“I guarantee you that I could go out in these and have someone wanting to take them off with their teeth by bedtime,” Steve said confidently.

“You’d have to seriously wonder about their mental stability though,” Danny remarked as he zipped up his pajamas. He looked in the mirror and frowned. “No one can ever know about this.”

“Agreed, now put your slippers on.”

“Come on slowpokes!” Mary said, bouncing in the doorway. She’d pulled her hair up into pigtails and looked like a walking cliché, but still cute as a kitten. “I’m gonna eat all of your cookies if you don’t hurry!”

They watched as she skipped away down the hall.

“We’d better get downstairs; she _will_ try to eat our cookies.”

“Oh, don’t you boys look adorable!” Doris gushed as Steve and Danny came back down the stairs. She sat the tray of cookies and hot cocoa on the coffee table. “Steve, the movie please?”

Steve walked over to the TV and searched for the movie. “Where is it Mom?”

“Right there,” she replied, pointing to the corner of the TV cabinet.

Steve frowned and picked up the VHS. “I don’t have a tape player Mom.”

“What?”

“A tape player… this is a VHS, all I have is a DVD player.”

“You can’t just make it work?”

Steve arched a brow. “Doesn’t work that way Mom.”

Doris’ shoulders dropped and a look of disappointment overtook her face. 

“Steve’s got some Christmas DVD’s,” Danny pointed out.

Doris gave Steve a look. “Don’t scare me like that Steven.”

Steve sighed. “Sorry Mom.”

 

Danny didn’t remember falling asleep, but when he woke up his nose was pressed against Steve’s arm and hurt. He realized several more things in the next few moments… one, Mary was curled up on the other side of Steve, muttering in her sleep. It sounded like she was trying to convince Santa that she was a good girl. Two, they were all tucked under a large blanket that somehow seemed to embody the very essence of Christmas in its smell and feel. And three, although the tree had been devoid of presents after their pajamas, there were now presents stacked several feet out and deep.

Danny stretched and folded back the blanket before starting to stand.

“Morning Daniel,” Doris said, leaning against the frame of the archway to the kitchen with a cup of coffee.

Danny, startled, staggered and fell back down on the couch causing Steve to wake with a start.

Doris took another sip of her coffee, slight smirk playing at her lips. “Good morning Steven.”

Steve assessed his situation and relaxed once he realized that he was in no danger. “Morning Mom,” he mumbled, his voice lazy and slightly hoarse. He looked over at Mary, who hadn’t been disturbed in the slightest by the movement or voices, and nudged her. “Mary, wake up, it’s Christmas morning. Mary… Mary!”

“I can be naughty if you want…” Mary grumbled before opening her eyes. “Huh? Oh, morning bro.”

Steve chuckled.

Mary scrubbed the sleep out of her eyes and caught sight of the presents. In the blink of an eye she was out from under the blanket and kneeling in front of the tree. “Let’s open presents!”

Steve smiled and moved to join her.

Danny yawned and stood once more. “Coffee first.”

“Nooo…” Mary whined, present already in hand.

“It’ll only take a minute Mary, be patient,” Doris chided.

Danny pulled a coffee cup from the cabinet and began making himself some coffee.

Doris leaned against the counter, waiting for her turn at the coffee pot for a refill.

“How’d you do it?” Danny found himself asking.

“Do what?”

“The presents… how’d you get them all under the tree with the three of us sleeping just a few feet away? With _Steve_ only feet away. He’d wake from a coma if someone blew a dog whistle.”

Doris chuckled. “Old family secret.”

“Ninja skills?” Danny asked dryly.

“A little tranquilizer in the hot chocolate and a general knowledge of my children’s favorite present hiding spots.”

Danny stared at her for several moments before returning to the living room. Scary, definitely scary.

Steve and Mary had both already pulled several gifts into their laps and the bow from one of Mary’s presents was lying on the floor as if it had fallen off. Danny and Doris both knew better.

“Can we start now?”

“Once Danny sits down and has presents to open.”

Steve pulled Danny down beside him, causing him to slosh his coffee, and Mary placed a stack of presents in his lap.

“Alright,” Doris began. That was all that Steve and Mary needed. The sound of wrapping paper ripping tore though the silence and bows and ribbon and paper flew in every direction.

It didn’t take the McGarrett children long to get through the smaller gifts, which seemed to be some sort of unspoken rule.

“Hey, Steve! This big one here is yours!” Mary said tugging on the largest present which was neatly tucked behind the tree and wrapped in wrapping paper adorned with baby birds. It took some effort, but Mary finally pulled the gift into his lap.

Steve grinned. “I know what this is… Mom, you shouldn’t have!”

Danny stared at the present. It was about 4 feet long and rectangular. There was nothing distinctive about it. How could Steve possibly know what was inside?

Steve ripped the paper off, revealing a matte green metal case. He flipped the latches open and threw open the top revealing a grenade launcher.

Danny’s jaw dropped and all he could manage was, “NO!”

“It’s perfect Mom!”

“That is not going in my car!”

“It could really come in handy,” Steve taunted.

“Absolutely not! My child rides in that car!” Danny protested.

“So?”

“So it’s dangerous! It'd be like literally sitting on a bomb!”

“So, you have a problem with explosives in the car?”

Danny stared at him incredulously. “Yes! I absolutely have a problem with it!”

“You’re adorable Danno.”

Mary gathered up the stockings and began passing them out. She peeked into Steve’s and smiled. “If he has a problem with that, maybe you can sneak these in,” she said, dropping the stocking in his lap.

What appeared to be a dark green ball rolled out of the stocking and landed by Danny’s foot. Once realization kicked in, he scrambled backwards, sending gifts clattering to the floor as he tried to get away from it.

“Relax Danno,” Steve said, scooping up the grenade. “The pin is still intact… it’s harmless.”

“It’s a grenade Steven! I do not consider a grenade _harmless_!!! And who stuffs stockings with grenades?!”

“Me,” Doris reminded him from where she stood nearby. “And if you don’t like explosives, maybe you shouldn’t open _your_ stocking.”

Danny’s phone rang; he answered without checking to see who it was.

“ _Merry Christmas Daddy!_ ” Grace said cheerfully.

“Monkey,” Danny sighed in relief. “Merry Christmas sweetie.”

“ _Are you having fun with Uncle Steve?_ ”

“Oh yeah, a blast,” he responded, eying his stocking. He motioned that he was going outside to talk.

Doris watched as he closed the door. “He’s so adorable.”

“ _Daddy, did Santa bring you anything?_ ”

“No, I don’t think he’s equipped to wrap a bomb squad.”

Grace was silence for a moment. “ _Are you okay Danno?_ ” she asked, worry in her voice.

Danny sighed. “Yeah, I’m fine Monkey. Uncle Steve’s mommy just has a very different idea of the perfect present and stocking stuffers then most people.”

“ _Did she get you a bad present_?”

“No, I guess not. Just… unexpected.”

“ _Oh,_ ” Grace said, clearly confused.

“Never mind about that.” Danny pinched the bridge of his nose. “I miss you Monkey.”

“ _I miss you too Daddy! I wish I was there with you and Uncle Steve!_ ”

Danny’s heart broke. “I...” his voice cracked, “I wish you were here too.”

“ _Oh, OK,_ ” Grace said to someone. “ _I’ve gotta go Daddy. I’ll call you later, okay?_ ”

Danny smiled a little. “You better.”

“ _Love you Danno!_ ”

“I love you too Monkey!” The phone disconnected and it was the worst silence Danny had ever heard. He took a moment to collect himself, afraid that he might just cry. He went back inside when he noticed a father across the street, outside watching over his son playing with his new toys, eying him strangely. He’d forgotten he was wearing the footie pajamas and overstuffed slippers.

“You okay?” Doris asked, her motherly instinct kicking in.

Danny tried a smile, which failed. “Not really.”

Doris opened her arms and motioned for him to come in for a hug. Danny found himself in her arms before he even had time to think about it. Maybe she wasn’t so scary after all.


End file.
